Digital Traces via Data Donations

Workshop DGPuK RezFo 2026

Session 1️⃣ : Welcome & Intro to Digital Traces

👉 Part of the SPP DFG Project Integrating Data Donations in Survey Infrastructure

Agenda

1. Intro to the workshop

2. What is digital trace data?

3. How can we collect digital traces?

Image by Hope House Press via Unsplash

Before we start: Have you requested and downloaded your Google Data? 🤔

Otherwise, use this link to request your data now: https://next.eyra.co/a/nWPJC4?p=999 - replace number after p= with random number

image of the starting page of a data donation study

1. Intro

image of lupe

Source: Image by Markus Winkler via Unsplash

Who are you?

Please raise your hand 🤚 if you ….

  • are familiar with the term digital trace data
  • have worked with APIs
  • have worked with data donation
  • have worked with automated content analysis
  • regularly use programming languages (e.g., R, Python)

Who are you?

In 2-3 sentences, tell us…

  • your main research interests
  • the methods you mainly use
  • related to which theoretical questions/data you are interested in data donation as a method

About me: Valerie Hase

Professor of Digital Media and Communication

Research interests:

  • CSS (automated content analysis, digital traces, bias, data access)
  • Digital journalism, crisis communication

👉 More info: github.com/valeriehase & valerie-hase.com

A big thank you 🙌 to the organizers

Shoutout to the organizers behind this workshop

  • Alicia Ernst & Ulrike Schwertberger (RezFo Young Scholar Network)
  • Christina Seeger, Marlis Stubenvoll, Caroline Roth-Ebner, Selina Noetzel & Melanie Hirsch (local organizing team)

What is the goal of this workshop?

  • ✅ Understanding digital data traces as a type of data
  • ✅ Understanding data donation as a method of data access
  • ✅ Working through key steps of data donation methods (user & researcher view)
  • ✅ Discussing when (not) to use data donation studies
  • ❌ Detailed implementation (e.g., server set-up, coding data extraction scripts)

How do we communicate in this workshop?

question

How do we communicate in this workshop?

My goal is that you…

  • just ask right away if there is something you did not understand
  • keep in mind that there are not stupid questions
  • feel free to ask questions specific to your potential data donation projects!

Timetable

⏰ 11:15–11:45am Session 1️⃣: Welcome & Intro to Digital Traces
⏰ 11:45am–1pm Session 2️⃣: Data Donation Studies (Participant Perspective)
🥖1–2pm Lunch break
⏰ 2–4pm Session 3️⃣: Data Donation Studies (Researcher Perspective)
⏰ 4–5pm Session 4️⃣: Bias in Digital Trace Data & Outro

2. What is digital trace data?

image of lupe

Source: Image by Markus Winkler via Unsplash

Which examples for digital trace data do you know? 🤔

Example study I

Preprint by Alicia Ernst, Felix Dietrich et al. (2025)

Ernst, Dietrich et al. (2025)

Example study II

Study by Ursula Schmid et al. (2024)

Schmid et al. (2024)

Example study III

Study by Peters (2024)

Peters (2024)

What is digital trace data?

Definition 💡: The recording and storing of activities on digital platforms to draw conclusions about digital and analog phenomena

  • e.g., tweets, likes, shares on social media
  • e.g., geo data (locations, movements)
  • e.g., digital payments
  • e.g., Spotify playlists

What is digital trace data?

Definition 💡: The recording and storing of activities on digital platforms to draw conclusions about digital and analog phenomena

  • e.g., tweets, likes, shares on social media

Example: Instagram Like

Screenshot of Instagram Like

What is digital trace data?

Definition 💡: The recording and storing of activities on digital platforms to draw conclusions about digital and analog phenomena

  • e.g., tweets, likes, shares on social media

Example: Instagram Like

Data behind Instagram Like

Which systems/sensors collect traces?

  • Apps & social media platforms (e.g., Instagram)
  • Payment systems (e.g., Paypal)
  • Wearable devices (e.g., smart watch, fitbit)
  • Governmental databases (e.g., health data)

Which types of data does this include?

Depending on the data collection method… (Haim & Hase, 2023; Ohme et al., 2024):

  • often fine-grained (e.g., time-stamped)
  • often longitudinal (e.g., over years, within-individual change)
  • often less reactive (e.g., less concerns about social desirability)
Exemplary trace data from YouTube searches

Which types of data does this include?

examples of digital trace data

Source: Keusch & Kreuter, 2023, p. 102

What (latent) phenomena are we trying to explain?

(Dis-)advantages of digital trace data

  • ✅ More fine-grained, often longitudinal measures due to timestamps
  • ✅ Partly measurement of new variables (e.g., algorithmic inference)
  • ❌ Still bias due to errors in representation and measurement
  • ❌ Implementation can be expensive and cumbersome

👉 More data does not mean better data!

Summary: What is digital trace data? 📚

  • Definition: The recording and storing of activities on digital platforms to draw conclusions about digital and analog phenomena

  • Further literature

    • Keusch & Kreuter (2021)

    • Haim & Hase (2023)

    • Ohme et al. (2024)

3. How can we collect digital traces?

image of lupe

Source: Image by Markus Winkler via Unsplash

Which methods do you know/have you used for collecting digital trace data? 🤔

Platform- and user-centric methods

the promise of data donation using a toy story meme

Platform- and user-centric methods

Platform- and user-centric methods

comparing different methods across legal and measurement considerations

Platform- and user-centric methods

Placeholder first data Elli

Platform- and user-centric methods

  • Restrictions of platform-centric methods
  • User-centric methods become more popular, given …
    • Legal frameworks enabling such studies (GDPR, DSA)
    • Presumably (!) more researcher control
    • Ethical considerations (informed consent)

Summary: How can we collect digital traces? 📚

  • Summary

    • Platform-centric methods (e.g., APIs) and user-centric methods (e.g., data donation)

    • Key differences: control over samples & measurements, legal & ethical contexts

  • Further literature

Questions? 🤔

References

Data Donation Studies - DGPuK RezFo - Valerie Hase

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